Process of making artificial stone



Inma/zz 0;. C 01165 576524'4 PROCESS OF MAKING ARTIFICIAL STONE Feb. 16 1926 CII 1 Patented Feb. 16, 19295.

PATENT QEFLCE.

onARLEs stemmer Los Ausmass, eenlronnis, assieme-or ons-HALF `To FRED sms-ir, 0F- Los Anastasi, aannemers,

RQCESS 0F; MAKING ARTIFICIAL STONE;

Application,filed-February 19,1925. Serial No. 16,187.

To all @L1/omit may concern:

.Y Be 1t known that l, CHsnLns S'renn, a citizen ofthe Vlinited States, and aresiderit of Los Angeles, in;v the count)r of Los Angeles andf'ltate of` California, hare invented neuY and useful Improvements in Processes of lilalzingr llirticial Stone, of which the. followingisa detailed specifica tion.

This invention relatesto the manufacture of. articial stoneiof a, kind and variety havingmfha-t may. beterined bl.o.u.,holeS. in it. Speciiically(although,theinrention is not necessarily limited tosuelnnained substances) the. preferred form and practice of 'the invention areV .directed to, the production of'ivhat-isflnowin as;v artificial travel Stine. i Y

..Naturalgtrarertineds a stone haring; dispersed caviics. of various signes, and also usually has a striated formation; so that Whensueh natural trayertine is quarried and `linished its.:surfaeefpresents color striations, and depressionsV or openings of varying sizes and Varyingly. dispersed. Theforination of natural travertine is` supposed to have occurred in volcanic regions4 by the di persionof volcanic gases. withininolten orheated roch. i

Although i other processes.. 'have been proposedand, to. seine exten@ used for the .production of'artilicial.l travertino, or for` the productionof a surface. formation simulating; travertine, none of these. processes, so far` as l ain aware, have been entirely. successfulinfthe economical and efficient production, of. an. artilicial. stone. that closely reseinbles the natural roch or has.theheauti ful .appearance of` that naturalrock.

ltV isa general object; of` my invention to provide a, siinplel and ellieient forni of pro ess. by which natural rock may be closely and. accurately simulated. In accomplishing thisobject I provide a process in Which all of. the eleinentsgoing to,1nake the finished surface-are closely. and accurately under control 4of' the. operator, so that he may delinitely and accurately produceva-ny' desired color pattern, andv also a .Y Wide,v range of patterns. and. formations. as

reg-ardsA the depressions, orL holes. In some instances, these depressionson holesinthe surface` are readily recognizable. as such, and in otherl instances such depressions or holes "n are so small' and,soclosetogether,-thatthey for Walls or the like, or for making,blocks` orl elements or other members that will afterv-:ards be assembled, say in a building structure. ln such case, a inoldof proper forni corresponding to the exterioi'A forniation of thetinished blockor ineinbcr isi used; or in the case of a flat Wall slab a plane worklngtable or other surface is. used. Upon this WorkingV surface l distribute a mixture of dry mineral coloring matter and a soluble solid, the particles of which are.-

encased in a non-soluble coating. Y The plastic substance that inak'cs the bodi7 ofthe member block or slab is then poured over the, distributed matter, and after the plastic substance has Eet, the coatings. of the soluble substance arerenioved and the soluble sul)A tance dissolved out.

In the accompanying drawings it illustrate typically the various phases of the makingl of a wall slab. ln these ilrawiiurs:

Fig. l an enlarged section of u partir'le of soluble solid with ifs coating; y

2 isa plan ofy a working table with the4 mixtureV ofv soluble substance and coloring niatter distributed thereon; andy Fig. ist anlenlarged cross section of the finished product. Y

In the specific and now preferred practice of the process, l first prepare the soluble substance and the mixture of it with a color ing;4 niatter. 1 prepare this mixture, for instance, by takingsome rcadilj.r Water soluble substance such as sal-soda` (sodium carbonate) and first. crush or otherwise break it down to particles of the desired size or sizes. For instance, IA may suitably crush thissolublesolid and then roughly size ity by screening', and then either take certain' screeningsor cert-ain proportionate mixtures ofg different screenings, For in- This preferred forni de-V r llU stance, in a typical operation the sizes of these particles may run from fines up to say one quarter inch or more.

AAfter this soluble solid substance is thusg permeable to and insoluble in the water of the plastic composition, and that the coating substance be not of a sticky nature, so that the coated particles will not stick to- `.gether in a mass. Aside from that, it is only necessary that the coating substance working surface.

be of such a nature that it can be 'removed from the soluble substance by some easy operation; and I prefer either aV heavy oil or para'liin wax because either of them may be melted away from the enclosed solidV soluble substance bythe use of hot water, as willebe hereinafter described. j

Fig. l shows a particle of the soluble solid substance S with its coating` P.

After these coated particles of soluble VVsolid have been properly prepared,- l next mix'the mass of coated particles with a proper' proportionate amountk of mineral coloring` matterythe coloring matter being select-ed so as to give the desired color on the surface of the finished stone. This mixture is then put upon the working surface and is distributed thereon as the operator may desire, the distribution depending upon the surface pattern desired in the finished product. For instance, a typical method of distribution is to sprinkle the mixture on the working surface in a thin layer and then draw a coarse-toothed comb through the mixture, thereby distributing' it in more or less definitely defined striations on the Other methods of distribution, however, may be used; the mixture maybe distributed in spots o-r splotches, or a combination of them with combed striations. Or combed striations may be formed and then may be more or less obliterated at certain places. l

Fig. 2 shows a working surface T, which may le surrounded by a raised edge E,

and shows the described mixture at M distributed upon it.

Upon the mixture thus distributed is ioured plastic unset substance that is to form the body of the slab. Any suitable plastic substance may be used; for certain purposes 'l usepure plaster of Paris. This plastic substance is sufficiently fluid to be put in place over the distributed surface mixture. and to flow into the spaces between striations or other dispersed forms of the surface mixture, without materially displacing the surface mixture. The slab or other body thus formed may, of course, vbe as thick as desired; lbut it is one of the advantages inherent in my invention, due to accurate control of the holes or depressions and due to the fact that they are only at the surface, that a surfacing slab of siuiicient strength need not be very thick.

The unset plastic substance may, of course, be subjected to pressure after it has been poured or otherwise put in place over the distributed substance ;y but the unset plastic substance may be applied to the previously 'distributed substance in any suitable manner other than bypOuring; and in any case the plastic body may be, if desired, subjected topressure to dcnsify it.

The whole .slab is then allowed to set. The surface mixture has preferably been put kin place and"y distributed thereon in' ldry condition, although it may be somewhat wetted if desired, if that is found necessary, to make the coloring` matter of the mixture bind readily with the plaster. However, as a surface mixture does not form a layer of much thickness, I do not find it necessary to wet it; the dry coloring matter will bind while with the wet plaster. After the whole slab has set sufficiently so that it' may be 'liandeled, it is'removed from the working surface and turned face up. j Then the coatings of the soluble particles are 'removed by an application of heat, preferably byr a simple application of `hot water to thev surface of the slab. The hot water melts the oil or parafiin sufficiently to allow the water access to the enclosed soluble particles. has projected the soluble particles against the water or moisture of the plastic mass, preventing the particles from being` gremaH turely dissolved and preventing the sal-soda from permeating the plastic body. Continued application of the water, also preferably warm or hot, quickly dissolves the solid particles andthe solution is washed away as fast as formed. It is desirable, particularly when sal-soda is used, to dissolve and wash it away quickly so as not to allow the substance 0r the solution of it to permeate `the slab to any substantial extent, as such substance would thereafter work out to the surface of the finished slab and deteriorate itin appearance. The slab is now finished and ready for use.

Fig. 3 shows, in section, the finished slab with body B and with its surface depressions or holes H,A and with rough parts of the Up to this time the insoluble coating From the foregoingl description, it will be vreadily understood how members other than slabs may be given a surface formation such `becomes the interior surface of a suitable mold.

. It will also be apparent that my invention is not limited to the use of the specific and particular substances herein described, as other substances having the qualities herein pointed out may be used in carrying out the invention. For instance, other soluble substances niay be used in place of sal-soda.; I have found sal-soda preferable because it breaks up Well into suitable sizes and forinations, the form of the individual broken particles being angular and irregular rather than round; it also dissolves easily and quickly, but it will be readily understood that other soluble solids may, to a greater .or lesser extent, fulfill these requirements.

It will also be understood that the use of coloring matter to obtain color striations in the finished product is not, at least broadly speaking. an essential part of the invention. if it is desired to obtainv a rough surfaced product, or a product With dispersed surface holes and having a uniform color throughvout, that color may, if desired, be obtained ,by coloring-the cement or plaster body as a` Whole so that the color of the finished p product is uniform.

Also from the foregoingdescription it vWill be readily understood how my process Vapplied to a Wall, and While that plaster is unset the coa-ted soluble particles, and color ing matter if desired, may be distributed upon the unset plaster surface, being imbedded in the surface, and then after 'he plaster has set, the soluble particles Washed out as before described. The distribution and ii'nbedding of the soluble particles and coloring matter may be obtained, for ininstance, by blowing With an air brush, or such distributed matter may be pressed into and imbedded in the unset plaster by ti'owel ing, or the application of a form board or the like.

Having described a preferred form of my invention, I claim:

l. The herein described method of forining artificial stone, that includes coating particles of a soluble substance with an insoluble coating, imbedding such particles iii a plastic body, and then after the plastic body has sufficiently set, breaking the said coatings and dissolving away the soluble particles.

The herein described process of forming artificial stone, that includes coating particles of a Water soluble solid with a coating insoluble in water but capable of being melted by application of heat, imbedding sncli coated particles in a plastic body, and then after the plastic body has sufficiently set, melting the coatings of the soluble particles and dissolving away the soluble particles.

3. The herein described process of forming artificial stone, that includes coating par* ticles of a Water soluble solid with a coating` insoluble in Water but capable of being melted by application of heat, said coating being non-adhesive, imbedding such coated particles in a. plastic body, and then after the plastic body has sufficiently set, meltingthe coatings of the soluble particles and dissolving away the soluble particles.

et. The herein described method of forniing artificial stone, that includes coating particles of sal-soda with parafiin Wai; so that each individual particle is entirely encaseffl in a coating of the Wax, iinbedding such coated particles in a plastic body, and then after the plastic bod)v has sufficiently set applying hot Water to the surface of the body'.

thereby melting the coatings of the particles and dissolving away the sal-soda.

(3l-IAS. STEED. 

